Tanya Kumar & Chris Choi’s “Redcross Your Tees” Abstract

After visiting the Red Cross and having the privilege of doing a Ride-Along with one of the reservist volunteers, I learned that the Red Cross was running as smoothly as they could without the interference of designers, and that what they really needed immediately was funding and more money.

After talking with several of the employees who were working in the conference room, I learned that the Red Cross struggles with cash flows on a daily basis. The problem was that people were willing to give them donations when large disasters occurred, like when the earthquake hit Haiti, but were unaware of the Red Cross’ needs and the amount of work they were doing in cities on a daily basis, even when there was no large catastrophe.

This project is focused on funding through design, and the ways in which a steady and more consistent cash flow could be created. We focused on working with the merchandise that is sold in stores at the Red Cross and online, and how the merchandise could become more known to an audience that is unaware of what it is that the Red Cross really does.

We came to a final design of the first iteration of a t-shirt (in two color variations), which could become a start to a new line of merchandise, that is targeting a younger audience as well as one that is not aware of the Red Cross’ immense responsibilities, and that could be purchased online or at the store. This final design for the first iteration of a printed tee, came after several different iterations and prototypes that were user tested and redesigned based on direct feedback.